A TWO-YEAR course will see eighteen single trained midwifery students equipped to serve communities through the primary healthcare delivery system in the areas of maternal and child health.

This was revealed by Health Education Officer at the Ministry of Public Health, Wilton Benn, one of the facilitators of the training programme. Benn explained that the single trained midwives are trained to work in the community and to support the primary healthcare system. “They are going to be able to provide valuable service, not just to support maternal and child health, but the umbrella of family health which encompasses health throughout the life cycle and so essentially their training will equip them to be able to improve the primary healthcare system.”

The midwifery students are currently in their second year of training. Benn said, “they are attached mainly to the hospital to observe and to be involved in the basic skills of midwifery. They also have to do some didactic time, so one day a week they come to classes and other days they are in clinical areas in maternal and child health where they practice their skill as midwives.”

Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence paid a visit to the trainees while she was in the region and was elated to learn that a new complement was being trained. Just recently she learnt of the need for more midwives in the region’s primary healthcare facilities and hospitals. She was advised that if there were more of these personnel in the region, the burden on the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital, as a result of a high number of maternity cases, would be significantly reduced. (DPI)